Media advisory – Western Australian Senate recount

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Missing ballot papers

During the recount of WA Senate ballot papers the AEC found that some ballot papers had been misplaced. The details of those ballot papers, as advised in a media release on 8 November 2013, are set out below.

The table below is drawn from the records from the initial Senate count and sets out:

the number of ballot papers missing

which divisions and polling places they were from, or that they were provisional votes

which party/group they were for, or that they were informal.

Details of missing ballot papers

Division

Forrest

Pearce

Total ballot papers

Polling Place

Bunbury East

Henley Brook

Mt Helena

Wundowie

Provisional Count 1

Group

A

Smokers Rights

8

8

C

Australian Christians

3

3

D

Help End Marijuana Prohibition

7

7

G

Shooter and Fishers

14

14

J

Secular Party of Australia

1

1

K

Australian Independents

3

1

4

L

The Wikileaks Party

6

5

11

M

Katter's Australian Party

2

1

3

N

Family First Party

11

11

O

No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics

1

1

2

Q

Stop the Greens

3

3

S

The Greens (WA)

112

112

T

Animal Justice Party

12

9

21

Z

Australian Labor Party

164

164

AA

Liberal

350

370

166

886

Sub-total formal votes

151

350

393

356

0

1250

Informal votes

80

29

11

120

TOTAL VOTES

231

350

393

385

11

1370

1139

The progress

The table below shows a state summary of the recount and the number of challenges to ballot papers by scrutineers

The process

On 10 October 2013, the Electoral Commissioner directed a recount of certain WA Senate ballot papers. This direction was issued subsequent to requests for a recount following the scrutiny of WA Senate ballot papers, distribution of preferences and determination of successful candidates but prior to the declaration of the poll. The formal recount at the Central Senate Scrutiny (CSS) centre in Northbridge began at 9:00am on Thursday 17 October.

The recount involves a fresh look at informal ballot papers plus all ballot papers where voters had recorded their Senate vote above-the-line in the 2013 Federal Election (more than 1.2 million ballot papers). This includes votes cast by WA voters at polling places within the state, at other voting centres throughout Australia and overseas, or by post.

Counting Senate votes

The Central Senate Scrutiny (CSS) is the process of counting Senate ballot papers and distributing the preferences marked on them to determine which candidates have been elected. The CSS is carried out in accordance with the requirements of Part XVIII of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act). The AEC uses a computerised system to assist with this process. The software used is called EasyCount Senate (ECS). The system takes the entered information for each of the votes cast in a Senate election, performs the distribution of preferences, and indicates which candidates have been elected.

Immediately after Polling Day, Senate ballot papers are sorted into those which are formal above-the-line (ATL), those which appear formal below-the-line (BTL) and those which are informal. The number of formal ATL votes for each group/party is loaded into ECS as are the Group Voting Tickets (GVTs) for each group/party. Counting of ATL and obviously informal votes is undertaken by each local AEC office.

Votes marked BTL are data entered into ECS at the CSS premises. Each ballot paper is twice entered into ECS by AEC data entry operators. The initial data entry and the second entry (for verification) are undertaken by different data entry operators. During this process, ECS is able to detect whether there is a discrepancy in the data entry by the two operators, or whether a vote is informal. Discrepancies in data entry are resolved immediately. Once all BTL votes have been recorded in this way, ECS combines them with ATL preferences, performs the distribution of preferences including carrying out exclusions and calculating transfer values, and outputs reports that show which candidates have been elected to the Senate.

Recount of Above-the-line votes

The recount will be conducted by the Australian Electoral Officer (AEO) for WA at a single location. It will involve up to 120 counting staff counting daily from 9am-4:30pm plus preparation and packing up time. It will continue until all relevant ballot papers have been counted.

The recount involves looking again at all votes which are informal or counted as formal ATL. It will involve checking that the votes are in fact informal or formal ATL (and for which party/group). The ballot papers will be counted to ensure that the number recorded as informal or recorded as formal ATL for each party/group is correct. Where figures need to be corrected, this will be recorded and, at the end of counting, loaded into ECS along with figures that did not need to be corrected.

Distribution of preferences

Loading of the recount figures into ECS will enable the system to recalculate the distribution of preferences and determine the successful candidates.

Scrutineers

Candidates are entitled to appoint people to act as scrutineers for the duration of the recount.

Formality of ballot papers

The circumstances that will lead to a ballot paper being classified as formal or informal are prescribed by s 268(1) of the Electoral Act, and interpretations of that provision are supported by various judicial decisions.

The general approach is that an elector who has marked a ballot paper has done so with the intention to cast a formal vote. Accordingly, where an examination of what is written on a ballot paper results in it being capable of complying with the formality rules, it will be ruled as being formal and included in the count. This is consistent with the principle of giving effect to the franchise where it is possible to do so within the formality rules of the Electoral Act.

A ballot paper will be ruled as informal if:

It is not authenticated by either the initials of an issuing officer, the presence of the official mark, or by having been endorsed as authentic by either a DRO or the AEO (in accordance with s.268(2) of the Electoral Act);

It is completely blank;

It, in the opinion of a DRO, enables an elector to be identified;

It does not have a single first preference mark ATL, or is not sequentially numbered correctly BTL and cannot be ‘saved’ by the provisions in s 270 of the Electoral Act.

Note: ballot papers which are referred to the AEO for consideration and contain a numbering sequence BTL, will be data entered into ECS to assist the AEO in ruling on formality.

If there is a numbering sequence above the line only, with a single first preference mark, the ballot paper will be ruled as formal. For above the line votes only a first preference mark can be a number 1, a tick or a cross.

Completion of the recount

The recount has now been completed by the AEO, The declaration of the poll occurred on Monday 4 November 2013 and the writ was returned Wednesday 6 November 2013.

The validity of the election of any member of parliament may only be disputed by a petition to the Court of Disputed Returns within 40 days of the return of the writ. Further information can be found in the Candidates Handbook.